Indian dancing

INDIAN DANCING

by every dancer, so as to presetve a balance between vigour and grace.

Parvati also took the beautiful Usha in hand and trained her in the /asya aspects of the dance. Usha, in her turn, taught the milkmaids of Dwatakha, and they instructed the maidens of Saurashtra. Thus the art of dancing passed from the gods to man, spreading gradually from land to land, to grace the eatth. As Bharata was the first mortal to be initiated into the intricacies of the science of natya, or dance-drama, it has now come to be known as Bharata Natyam. This term may be applied, in general, to all forms of dancing prevailing in India, whether in the North or the South, the East or the West. However, in recent times, it has come to be applied, in its mote restricted sense, to the dances performed in the temples of South India.

Bharata has often been dramatized by authors and playwrights. Kalidasa, one of the nava ratna, ot Nine Jewels, of the court of King Vikramaditya of the Golden Gupta period, refers to him as the Celestial Playwright in his drama Vikramorvasi.

As we have only legend and presumption to go by, we cannot be sure whether it was Bharata who gave his name to the dance art of India after compiling the Natya Shastra, ot whether it was his prtoficiency in the arts that won him the name. The Vaishnavite philosopher, Vedanta Desikar, author of the Sankalpa Suryodaya, believes that it was due to his mastery of zatya that Bharata was so called, the name being a combination of the first syllables of the words bhava meaning idea, raga meaning tune, and /a/a meaning timing.

BRIEF HISTORICAL SURVEY

Sprung from the supernatural, associated for ever with the legends of the gods of the Hindu Pantheon, its origin almost obscured in the mists of time, Indian dancing is, in the main, a form of religion. Tt is worship offered through mime, gesture, and the rhythm of dancing feet. It is for this reason that its purer styles are noted for their grave dignity and austerity.

Bharata’s first play at the Court of Indra ended in a fiasco. Its theme was the struggle between demons and deities. While the gods